Chapter 7
Kenni
Time dragged all week until the day of the event.
Then it flew by. I’d caved and told Fiona about the invitation.
She’d encouraged me to come to her apartment to get my makeup done and get dressed.
I met up with Fiona at Mya’N Da Hair salon.
We’d gotten our hair done and then had massages and facials at Salon Estime.
“I’m still mad that your fast ass didn’t tell me about it at the bar that night.”
“I know, Fi. It was just exciting, mysterious, and romantic all in one. I didn’t want to ruin the moment or the mystique around it.”
Fiona narrowed her eyes at me and twisted her lips.
“What?”
“You weren’t worried about ruining the moment,” she declared, pulling back from outlining my lips. I could have gotten my makeup done at Salon Estime, but Fiona was a beast when it came to makeup, and I didn’t trust just anyone with mine.
“Yes, I was.”
“Okay, maybe you were. But that wasn’t all. Your little ass probably thought you were imagining things because you were drunk as hell that night.”
My lips twisted before I burst out laughing so hard that tears pricked my eyes.
“Girl, quit laughing. You know that I’m right, but if you fuck up your makeup, I can promise you that I won’t be doing it over. You’ll be meeting your mystery man looking like a raccoon.”
That sobered me up, which caused her to burst out laughing.
“Okay, it wasn’t that funny,” I stated after a couple of minutes.
“I’m sorry.” She apologized, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “It’s time to get you into your dress. That car will be here any minute.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s a quarter after six.”
“Oh shit,” I replied and jumped up from the chair she had me sitting in.
I rushed into her closet and grabbed my gown and dressed in it.
I had spent a fortune on the Liz Boucher black and gold, one-shoulder, floral appliqué gown.
With sheer panels, the long sleeves stopped at a point on my wrist. The entire dress was sheer, but a black silk underlayment flowed underneath the sheer panel and continued down the length of the dress.
It split just above my right hip, leaving my entire right leg exposed.
A black and gold detachable train attached to the back of my dress flowed to the floor.
“Give me your feet,” Fiona stated, dragging a stool over to her dressing table where I sat. I kicked my foot out and watched as she placed my silver sandals on both feet, before I turned back to the mirror and put on my onyx earrings and matching onyx and diamond choker.
“You are so stinking gorgeous. I wish that you had told the girls so that they could be here to see you tonight.”
“Tell you what. You can take pictures and show them later.”
“They’re going to be pissed that you didn’t tell them, especially your cousin.”
“Sylvie will be fine. She can’t hold water,” I declared, waving my hand.
“If you tell her, she’s going to tell Aunt Joan, and Aunt Joan is going to tell my mama.
Then she’ll be on the phone asking if I’ve lost my damn mind, risking my relationship with a good, solid, strong man like Bryse.
She will guilt-trip me until I don’t know up from down, and I’ll be second-guessing whether I should go or not. So, no, Sylvie doesn’t need to know.”
Fiona clapped her hands and sighed heavily. “Well then. I guess that settles it. Let’s get your mask.”
“Still don’t know why I need that when you’ve done a banging job on my face.”
“Because, boo, it’s a masquerade ball. That’s what the mask is for. There will be an unveiling, so to speak, later, and you can let your face do its thang then.”
“I guess it’s a good thing that you don’t use cheap makeup then, huh? Otherwise, I will be sweating it out under this mask,” I declared, waving it indignantly around in the air.
“Girl, put that damn mask on, and trust that I did my thang.”
“I will.” I grabbed the mask and began to tug it in place.
“Wait. You’re about to mess up your hair, girl.” Fiona grabbed the mask from me and worked it around my hair so that it fell into place properly without messing up my hair.
“Now go take a look at you,” she demanded, shoving me toward her walk-in closet where she had a 360 mirror.
I walked inside and stopped in my tracks. I was blown away by the image before me. If I didn’t know it was me, I would say that the woman in the mirror was stunning, breathtaking even. My mouth dropped open, and I couldn’t help but stare at myself from every angle.
The mask set the outfit off. It was gold trimmed in black with tiny silver sparkles that looked like diamonds on the face of the mask.
“I think I’m going to cry. Do you think he’ll like it?”
“You’re really into this guy, aren’t you?”
“I mean, I like what I see so far. He appears to be everything that I want and need him to be. I only pray that the reality is everything that the fantasy appears to be. I’m losing Bryson, and I know it.
But I think we’ve gone too far to turn back.
I think he’s cheating on me. And I just don’t want to be alone when he finally leaves me for good.
I think he’s about to break up with me.”
“I find that so hard to believe. That man worships you. But if you’re convinced, I can’t argue. You know him better than I do.”
“I do. I just hope tonight will be fine.”
My phone buzzed, and she grabbed it off the bed.
“It will be. Girl, get out of here. The car is here. This is the text from your driver now.” Fiona grabbed my clutch and shoved it at me along with my phone.
“Come on before you’re late. I feel like a mother sending her daughter off to the prom,” she declared, dragging me to the door and out of the house.
We headed down the sidewalk to the driveway, where we stopped and looked at each other.
“Thanks, Fi. For everything,” I added as I hugged her.
“Just go have fun and live your best life. I pray that tonight is as magical and beautiful for you as it was for Cinderella. Here’s to you meeting your real Prince Charming tonight,” she professed, blowing a kiss at me.
“Thank you, beautiful.”
“This feels like a real Cinderella story,” the woman standing beside me professed as she reapplied her lipstick in the mirror.
There were two separate ballrooms, and there were mixed groups.
We had danced for the better part of two hours, eaten, and mingled with the other guests.
Everyone in ballroom A was anxious to meet the guests in ballroom B.
They were the ones we had been paired up with upon registering online.
It had recently been announced that we had fifteen minutes before that happened.
We were all ushered to the restrooms to check our appearance one final time before we were paired up.
“I know. I’m so excited that I could barely eat anything tonight.”
“Who are you telling? I hope my person is as amazing in person as he was online.” She gushed.
“Let me ask you something,” I stated, removing my hands from underneath the automatic faucet. “Was your person involved with someone else?”
She nodded eagerly. “I’ve spoken with a few women tonight and some of the men.
We’ve all found that our partners were already involved with someone else, as are we.
It looks like everyone invited here tonight was someone looking to escape their current relationship for someone better. How about you?”
I nodded as I ripped a couple of paper towels from the dispenser. “I’m in the same boat. But I can’t help but think about that old saying that the grass ain’t always greener on the other side. I’m so afraid that although my partner seemed like Prince Charming online, he won’t be that at all.”
“You mean you’re worried you might be kissing a prince who will turn into a frog instead of vice versa?”
“Exactly.”
“Me too,” she admitted, putting her lipstick back into her ice-blue clutch. She was a plus-sized, dark-skinned woman with gorgeous mocha coloring, deep dimples, and a short, curly cut. “Let’s vow that if our princes are frogs, that we leave here together and hit the bars, preferably Groove Theory.”
I laughed. “That’s exactly where I was when I came across my invitation,” I confessed.
“I was at the grocery store of all places,” she confessed.
We both laughed. “The name is Jenny.” She introduced herself and extended her hand.
“Jenny, I’m Kenni.”
She laughed. “Are you serious?”
“I am. Well, we’re running out of time. I think we’d better get back.”
We both rushed from the bathroom and back into our ballroom just as the folding doors dividing the two walls were being pulled back.
“Here goes everything,” Jenny declared to me as they began to call our numbers.
Mine and my partner’s numbers were the forty-fifth and forty-sixth numbers called out of the fifty guests here tonight.
My heart thundered in my chest as my partner and I drew closer to each other.
I couldn’t bite back the smile that took over my lips as I eagerly waited to greet him and unveil myself.
We stopped one foot shy of each other, and my heart squeezed tightly in my chest.
We waited until all the couples were paired, and then there was a countdown.
“Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . .” the countdown continued until the host called out “One.”
We removed our masks, and the gasp that fell from my lips was loud even as my partner frowned at me. We spoke at once.
“Kennedi?”
“Bryse?”
“What are you doing here?” he asked in confusion.
“I was going to ask you the same question. Are you Midnight Lover?”
His head dropped, and that same pinched expression he always got when he was upset came over his face. “You’re Pina Colada?”
“I am.”
“You were going to leave me.”
“And you were leaving me.”